The answer to this question is a definite NO! More than ten years
ago, the Harvard University Nurses’ Health Study, with over 120,000
subjects, found that the consumption of milk and other dairy products
does not protect against the bone fractures of osteoporosis (the
bone-thinning disease that the dairy industry wants you to believe is
related to too little milk in your diet). In fact, those in the study
who drank 3 or more servings of milk a day actually had a slightly
higher rate of fractures than women who drank little or no milk
(American Journal of Public Health Vol. 87 (1997) pp. 992-997).
And Why It Matters:
Dairy and Cancer: Statistics show that death rates due to
breast cancer are considerably higher in areas with a high dairy
consumption (British Journal of Cancer 24, 633-43). And a 2004 study
showed that for every glass of milk a woman consumes each day her risk
of dying from ovarian cancer goes up by 20% (American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition, 2004). Countries where people don’t drink much milk
have much, much lower rates of these and other hormone-related cancers,
including prostate cancer.
For more information about this connection see The China Study
by Dr. T. Colin Campbell or any of the books on breast cancer, prostate
cancer, or osteoporosis by Dr. Jane A. Plant, a distinguished British
scientist, and a breast cancer survivor.
Animal Compassion: Dairy cows suffer from being impregnated
each year of their shortened lives. They are so “spent” after about
three years of milking that they can barely stand and are sent off to
slaughter for cheap hamburger. They could otherwise live to 25 or 30.
And the veal industry, which slaughters the male calves at a few months
of age, would not exist if there were no demand for dairy.
Global Warming: Livestock agriculture contributes to more
climate change and global warming than all forms of transportation put
together (United Nations’ Report of November 2006 “Livestock’s Long
Shadow”). Trading in your cheeseburger and cow’s milk for a veggie
burger and rice milk will do more to stop global warming than trading in
an SUV for a hybrid (but do that, too).
There is adequate calcium and other minerals needed for bone growth
in green leafy vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, and even fruits like
oranges and strawberries. And beans, nuts, grains, and veggies have
plenty of protein to build muscle, too.
For more articles about milk, visit:
http://www.all-creatures.org/health/sub-milk.html
Also visit:
http://www.all-creatures.org/anex/cattle.html
For great-tasting recipes, photos, and information, visit:
http://www.all-creatures.org/recipes.html
